
S H E R R I U 



BATTLE OF 
HE BIG HOLE 



gam 



Battle of the Big Hole 

IN AUGUST, 1877 



As told by T. C. Sherrill, a 
volunteer member of Gen. 
Gibbon's command which 
was so nearly wiped out 
on that occasion. 




WRITTEN BY ELLA C. HATHAWAY. JULY. 1919 



Battle of the Big 



Hole 



IN AUGUST, 1877 

As told by T. C. Sherrill, a 
volunteer member of Gen . 
Gibbon's command which 
was so nearly wiped out 
on that occasion. 




Erected by a grateful government to the men who fell in the Nez 
Perce Indian battle. Inclosed to keep out souvenir hunters. 



WRITTEN BY ELLA C. HATHAWAY. JULY. 1919 




0 



Historic Spots on the Big Hole 
Section Park-to-Park Highway 



THE work done upon the western scenic park-to-park high- 
way during the past summer has made this altogether 
beautiful drive over the Rocky mountains between 
the Big Hole and Bitter Boot valleys more enticing than 
ever. Many of the turnouts have been widened, especially 
or the Bitter Root side, where such improvement was more 
ial than on the Big Hole side. Next season more improve- 
will be made in this regard, and in time there will be scarcely 
sibility of accident. There is really no reason for accidents, 
even now, if people would realize that they are on a mountain road 
and not on a macadamized speedway. 

One of the beauty spots along the route is the ranger station at 
the Gibbon battlefield, ten miles west of Wisdom. The government 
has extensive plans for making this popular resort even more popu- 
lar. Outdoor fireplaces have been built for the accommodation of 
those who wish to camp there or entertain at picnicking. 

A Hallowed Spot. 

This is a historic spot, hallowed by the blood of the brave pioneers 
and soldiers, who fell under the relentless fire of the Nez Perce In- 
dians in August, 1877. A grateful government has erected a mag- 
nificent monument upon the spot where they were buried and upon 
its surface one may read the names of those who fell. Because of 
liberties taken by souvenir hunters, it has been necessary to inclose 
the stone in steel. 

The station is at present in charge of M. G. Ramsey of the forest 
service, but T. C. Sherrill, one of the survivors of the Indian battle 
so long ago, was in charge for some years. He was but a stripling 
then; now his hair is streaked with gray, yet he is erect and agile. 
A little hard of hearing is all the perceptible mark, save the hair, 



which time has laid upon him. He is a fixture there, the government 
having built for him and his family one of the coziest bungalows in 
the hills. 

He loves to tell the story of the battle, and while it differs slightly 
in some minor points from the report of General Gibbon, one cannot 
but regard Sherrill's story as absolutely true. That his memory — 
recollection of the events as they were at the time of the battle — is 
perfect, was illustrated during the past summer. Forest Supervisor 
Summers was over from Dillon for the purpose of locating spots of 
especial interest in order that they may be appropriately marked 
for guidance of the tourist. As a matter of course, Mr. Sherrill. 
must be depended upon for the data. While standing near the 
monument and looking across the willows where the Indians were 
camped before the battle, Mr. Sherrill said to his chief: 

The Dying Squaw. 

'/Right over there, against the cut -bank on a line with those old 
Mormon diggin's, there ought to be the bones of a squaw I saw 
one fall. She was on the run, with the rest of the redskins, and 
turned to look back. Just as she did a rifle ball caught her in the 
jaw and tore the whole side of her face off. She tried again and 
again to get up that cut-bank, but couldn't make it and finally quit 
trying. She must have died there." 

Mr. Summers and others present who heard the story were a bit 
skeptical and finally some one suggested going to the spot desig- 
nated. Mr. Sherrill walked as directly to it as though it might have 
been his camp of the night before, and after kicking around in the 
sands of the north fork of the Big Hole river a skeleton was found. 

Of the battle, Mr. Sherrill says : 

"I had asked General Gibbon himself if I might not join his com- 
pany and make the trip into the valley with his men, and being only 
a citizen and no soldier, I didn't know whether they would take me 
along, but I certainly wanted to go, and as I was prettv young, 
only about 21 or so, I did not realize just what General Gibbon's 
men were up against. But I wanted to go, and the only thing to do 
was to ask the general himself, and I was mighty glad when he said 
I could go, but that I would have to consider myself as one of the 
company and take orders the same as the rest. Well, that suited 
me fine and I was glad I could go, no matter what the conditions. 
So we started out and met the infantry and a supply train at Brad- 
ley's ranch, and there were about 22 cowboys there, too. 

''General Gibbon had received word that the Nez Perces has 
started east over the Lo Lo trail, and had ordered one of the com- 
panies to start at once for Fort Shaw. This is the company I joined, 
and we reached Fort Shaw July 27. I guess there were only about 



40 men that came over the mountain on Tuesday evening into the 
valley. We came over to a point four miles above here, known as 
Fool Hen Creek, but now Kramer's saw mill." 

Indians' Advantage. 

And right here the writer would like to give the readers some 
idea of the ground on which this battle was fought. Picture this 
valley — 75 miles in length and from 6 to 16 miles wide, skirted all 
around by mountains, with their foothills, the ravines and under- 
brush and the many trees so thick that one could scarcely see be- 
yond a few yards — then realize the advantage the Indians had in 




Tom Sherrill standing- before the monument which marks the graves of his 
companions of other days. 

this battle, which took place on the side of one of the mountains., 
at the foot of which was a wide ravine covered with brush and 
willows, where the Indians had pitched their tents and where the 
white men had to meet them. 



Mr. Sherrill goes on to say: 

"We started for Missoula, by way of Dadott's pass, with pack 
mules. I guess it was about 150 miles, and we made it in seven 
days, reaching the new post near Missoula late on the afternoon of 
the 3d of August in wagons that were sent out to meet us. There 
were about 76 men and 8 officers. We heard that the Nez Perces 
and a large herd of horses had managed to avoid Captain Rawn's 
little command by marching around it and had turned up the val- 
ley. They stopped for a day or so along the way to trade with the 
white people and get fresh horses, food and supplies of all kinds, 
including ammunition. 

On Pack Mules. 

"On the way over there were some men sent to join us from 
Captain Rawn's command and about seven officers with them. By 
this time I guess there were about 146 men and 15 officers, and we 
went in wagons to Steubenville, where we arrived about 9 o'clock, 
making about 25 miles. The next day we made about 30 miles and 
were joined by a number of citizens from the upper valley, who vol- 
unteered as scouts and to join us if we should overtake the Indians — 
pretty much the way I joined. Some one told us that up a ways it 
would not be possible to take wagons, so we brought along pack 
mules. "We had a pretty good road until we came to climb the 
divide, at the upper end of the Bitter Root valley. Here the ascent 
was so steep, rocky and crooked that we had to halt that night and 
camp before reaching the summit. We only made 24 miles that day 
and the next morning it took up all of four hours to reach the top 
and only made about 13 miles that day, and we still had a steeper 
climb ahead of us for the next day. 

On Indians' Trail. 

"All along the road we had been passing the Indian camping 
grounds, which showed that they were moving at the rate of 12 or 
14 miles a day, so that if we could only continue to double this dis- 
tance it would only be a question of time when we would overtake 
them. The best estimate we could make of the number of Indians, 
judging from the camps, etc., was about 260, and we knew they were 
well armed and had plenty of ammunition. We also heard that 
Lieutenant Bradley and his command of some 60 men had been 
ordered to push forward during the night and try to strike their 
camp before daylight. 

"The next morning we started up again at 5 o'clock and started 
to climb the steep barrier, and the traveling was much more difficult 
on account of the fallen timber which had to be removed or climbed 
over, but our wagons were lightly loaded and by doubling our teams 
and using the men to help drag the wagons, we finally reached the 
summit, making only two miles in six hours. From there on we 



began to descend on a gentle incline of 20 miles or so into the Big 
Hole basin. But even here the abrupt road was so obstructed by 
fallen timber, and a difficult stream with abrupt banks crossed our 
path several times, so that traveling at best was a slow job. 




Portion of tortuous Indian trail which is now a perfect boulevard on the 
Western Scenic Park-to-Park route. 

Nearing Hostile Camp. 

"We got word some way that Lieutenant Bradley had not been 
able to reach the Indian camp as expected, so had to conceal his 
command in the mountains, as daylight had overtaken them and they 
could not surprise the Indians as planned. We were ordered to go 



right ahead without resting or feeding the animals, and we also 
learned that Lieutenant Bradley had located the Indian camp, but 
it was still four or five miles distant from Bradley's and we had 
just reached the place at sunset. We were not allowed to build 
any fires, and after pickets had been posted, we all laid down to 
rest until 11 o'clock. At that time we were ordered to hit the trail 
on foot and each man was supplied with about 90 rounds of ammu- 
nition. There were just 17 officers, 132 men and 34 citizens, and on 
account of the rough road we had to leave the only howitzer in the 
company behind, as not only would it be hard to take along, but 




Trees marking- the course of the Northfork and willows wherein the Indians 
had pitched their tepees. 



the noise made in removing timber would be sure to reach the ever- 
ready ears of the Indians. After going about three miles the country 
opened into the Big Hole basin, and, guided by one of the citizens, 
who knew the country, we turned up to the left and followed the low 
foothills and soon came in sight of fires. We approached the In- 
dians' location cautiously and in single file, and after going along 
in this way for a mile or so we passed through a point of timber 
projecting into the valley and just past that we encountered a large 
herd of ponies grazing upon the hillside. As we advanced very 
quietly, they commenced neighing and fortunately did not become 
alarmed, and by the time we had passed through the herd the out- 



line of tepees in the willows right down there/' and Mr. Sherrill 
pointed directly beloAv us at the bottom of the hill, where we could 
readily see the Indians had a splendid vantage point, "became 
visible in the bottom below. 

"We could hear all kinds of noises coming from there — the bark- 
ing of dogs, crying of babies and the usual accompanying noises. 
This was about 3 o'clock in the morning. We could see the tepees 
and could also see that they were formed in the shape of an open V 
with the apex toward us, and extended along the opposite side of 




Tom Sherrill, his right hand resting- on the muzzle of his trusty Winchester 
which brought the death yell from more than one Nez Perce throat that day. 
Note shortness of the barrel. It is a "saddle gun." In his left hand he holds 
trophies of the battle wrested by himself during hand-to-hand struggles. 

the creek for about 200 or 300 yards from us. The space in between 
the camp and the foot of the slope where we were was almost en- 
tirely covered with a dense growth of willow brush, and herds of 
ponies were grazing in between. 



"I think they wanted to surrender, as they didn't give any sign 
of warfare, and from the noise they made it did not look as though 
they were making any preparations for war, with the exception of 
three chiefs giving a warwhoop once in a while, and it wasn't a very 
pleasant sound at that. As the day broke we could distinguish many 
women and children among the Indians. 

"We were soon assembled at the foot of the hill. There was a 
deep slough of water, in places waist deep, and this wound through 
this bottom from right to left and had to be crossed before the 
stream itself could be reached. 

Halt. 

"We were commanded to halt and were almost entirely covered 
with a dense fog, and while we waited we were very close to the 
Indian camp. We got orders not to shoot until we heard a signal, 
which was to be one shot, either accidental or otherwise, when we 
were to open fire. 

The Attack. 

"While we were lying in wait, hardly breathing, one Indian 
herder, who could not see a group of us that had crouched, down 
in a hollow, came straight toward us, not knowing of our location, 
and walked up to within six yards of us. We knew that he would 
be right on us in a few seconds and thus give his tribe the signal, 
so the only thing for us to do was to shoot him down at once, and 
three of us fired on him all at once. This, of course, was a signal 
for our men to attack, and the whole line pushed rapidly forward 
through the brush, Logan's company being sent in on the extreme 
right. A heavy fire was opened at once along the whole line of the 
tepees, the startled Indians rushing from them in every direction, 
and for a few minutes no shots were returned. Part of our company 
first struck the camp at the apex of the V, crossed the main stream 
and fired at close range into the tepees and at the Indians as they 
poured out of them. Many of the Indians broke for the brush and 
sheltered themselves behind the creek bank and opened fire on the 
troops as they came into the open ground." 

Any one acquainted with the Indians and their methods of warfare 
can readily picture the scene that followed. Mr. Sherrill continued : 

"The fight didn't last very long and in less than 20 minutes we 
had complete possession of the whole camp and we were ordered 
to commence destroying it. But the Indians had not yet given up 
the fight, and while some of us were setting fire to the tepees other 
rifle shots came from every direction — from the brush, the creek 
bank and the open prairie and the distant hills. The fire from these 
positions, although at long range, was by far the most deadly and 
it soon became evident that the Indian sharpshooters were hidden 
behind trees, rocks, etc., and we were at a great disadvantage as we 
could not compete with their methods of warfare, and we lost some 



members of the command at almost every crack of the rifles from the 
distant hills. The only thing left for us to do was to retreat up this 
this hill where we would be more on the level with them, and we set 
about building fortifications as best we could with logs, etc., and 
after digging trenches in the ground just deep enough to conceal 
our bodies in we took our position behind trees, fallen logs, etc., 
and replied to the fire of the sharpshooters. I had dug a place for 
myself just behind a tree and thought I was protected, but all at 
once I felt a bullet Avhiz past and it just grazed the edge of my hat, 
and that shot was immediately followed by another one which went 




Face of the hill on which grew the twin trees in whose branches Indian 
sharpshooters concealed themselves and picked off many men before being' 
discovered. 

through the top of my hat, and I still have the hat to prove the 
story." Mr. Sherrill brought out the historical hat as well as the 
deerskin sleeve torn from the jacket of a dead Indian, and it still 
bears the bloodstains. Mr. Sherrill also displayed the scalplock of 
another Indian killed in the fight. 

A Close Call. 

"Well, I got pretty uncomfortable when that second bullet came 
so close, so I thought best to play 'possum and just stretched out 
flat in time to escape another bullet which struck the bottom of the 
tree trunk behind which I was hiding." Here Mr. Sherrill pointed 



out the bullet hole in the tree which still stands on the hill. "A 
large number of our men were killed and wounded, and although 
the fierce fighting was over, the Indians kept up their sniping. The 
rest of that day was spent on both sides by taking care of the killed 
and wounded and bringing in as many as we could. 




Where the highway is bordered with beautiful pines. 



"At about 10 o'clock that morning a guide was started with a 
cannon and seven men up into the timber, but were fired on by about 
35 Indians on the other side of the creek. The men fired the cannon, 



but as the Indians outnumbered them they were soon overpowered 
and the Indians captured the cannon, killed one man and wounded 
another. 

"During the night a runner was sent to the train and two others 
to Deer Lodge via French gulch for medical assistance and supplies. 
"We were afraid our train had been captured and this fear was in- 
creased early the next morning on the arrival of a courier from 
General Howard, who said he had seen nothing of it. He had passed 
it in the darkness of the night without seeing it. Later in the day 
Captain Browning with 25 men was sent to bring it in and it reached 
us just before sundown, bringing us out much needed blankets and 
supplies, but not until we had partly consumed the flesh of Lieuten- 
ant Woodruff's horse which had been wounded on our side and 
killed by the Indians. The Indians gave us a parting shower of 
bullets about 11 o'clock that night, and that was the last we saw 
of them. 

Indians Move On. 

"We learned that the Indians moved up the Whitebird river to 
Whitebird, Idaho. They had about 3,000 head of horses in their 
camp and they had (hard work rounding them up and gathering up 
their dead and wounded and packing up to move. They had a lot 
of supplies- — three wagon loads of clothes, etc. — and we found out 
they made their next stop at Rock creek. The Indians had not been 
able to stay at the government reservation and had been making 
their way up to the right of Bannack. They had killed about six 
people in the upper Horse Prairie, Birch creek, and had several bar- 
rels of whiskey which they had taken away from the whites. They 
had been having great times along the way, and were all fixed up 
in their war paint and had been carrying on their war dances all 
along the way. We learned they were finally captured by General 
Miles. 

Medical Aid Needed. 

"During all this time our wounded had received little if any 
surgical attendance, as there was only one surgeon in our company 
and he had no supplies or equipment to care for the wounded, and 
we had had very little to eat during this time, also ; in fact, many 
of us had been without food all day Thursday and did not receive 
food until Friday night, when all we got was coffee and hardtack. 
General Gibbon left Sunday morning for Deer Lodge to secure med- 
ical aid for his men, and also called for volunteers to warn the people 
in the vicinity. Much to the surprise of the whole company, an Eng- 
lishman by the name of William (Bill) Edwards volunteered. None 
of us had looked with much favor on the Englishman and did not 
think much of his ability as a soldier, and much less suspected him 
of the courage he displayed by volunteering to go on such a des- 
perate mission. There were, of course, other volunteers following 



Edwards' offer, but he was selected. He started off on foot with but 
a single rifle and walked straight through the Indian camp to French 
gulch to warn the citizens there of the Indians, and when he told 
them what had happened they could scarcely believe him. So little 
had the company thought of the Englishman that he had not even 
been provided with a horse on which to make his trip, and went on 
for quite a ways, when some one on the road gave him a horse, when 
he proceeded to Deer Lodge. 

"Billy Ryan was another chap who started out that same night 
for Gibbonsville pass to warn the miners and prospectors of the 
presence of the Indians. 

Howard Delays. 

"It was said that Howard could have given aid to the small com- 
pany of whites sooner than he did, but that he was opposed to fight- 
ing the Indians, and he dillydallied before he sent out aid which 
met our men when they were part way out in search of Howard and 
his aid. We found out later thai Howard had been acting under 
orders to follow the Indians out of the country, but not to fight 
them, while Gibbon had been told to go ahead and fight them, so 
you see that there were two officers that should have helped each 
other but couldn't very well because each was acting under orders 
which prevented them from working together. 

"We had all kinds of guns to fight with, but the .50 caliber needle 
gun, breech loader, was the most popular. 

"It was reported at the time of the battle that a white girl was 
being held by the Indians, but no one ever saw her and there was 
no proof as to this, but recently I dug up the leather robe of a woman, 
which had been richly trimmed with many beads, and right where 
the head or skeleton of the head should have been I found the braid 
of hair which I shall now show you." Mr. Sherrill went in and 
brought out the hair which he had found and showed it to us. It 
was very fine in texture and very light, probably golden at one time. 
"And I believe this is the hair of that white girl and she had no 
doubt been killed by the Indians when they had been fired upon by 
the whites, and had no doubt buried her body right here on the hill." 



MOV 2-1949 



